1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to information processing apparatuses and methods, and recording media therefore. More particularly, the invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method for storing, for example, information concerning purchase and repair information of electronic apparatuses, and to a recording medium for storing a program implementing the above-described method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a home network system using, for example, an IEEE-1394serial bus, a plurality of electronic apparatuses, such as an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) and a digital video cassette recorder (DVCR) are connected to each other, and information is transmitted and received therebetween, thereby reading or recording images or sound information. In the IEEE-1394 serial bus, one electronic apparatus controls other electronic apparatuses by sending an audio video/control (AV/C) command to them.
As middleware which hides the AV/C command from various types of application software, the home audio/video interoperability architecture (HAVi) (trademark) is known. According to the HAVi, electronic apparatuses are controlled by a device control module (DCM).
When such electronic apparatuses break down, they need repairing. Normally, a guarantee card is attached to an electronic apparatus in order to guarantee failures occurring during a predetermined period after purchasing the apparatus. A repair technician checks the guarantee card and repairs the defect free of charge if the failure has occurred within the predetermined guarantee period.
However, it is troublesome to keep the guarantee card and it is also easy to lose it. If the guarantee card is lost, the user has to pay for the services, even within the guarantee period.
Accordingly, for managing electronic apparatuses, a special writer may be used for recording repair information and guarantee-card information in the electronic apparatuses, and a special reader may be used for reading the information from the electronic apparatuses.
In order to implement such a technique, however, it is necessary to connect the electronic apparatus to the special reader/writer so as to transmit and receive information. Additionally, it is necessary for the repair technician to bring the special reader/writer every time the electronic apparatus is repaired, which is troublesome.